Tag Archives: slaves

Item Description: Letter from William Porcher Miles to Gen. Beauregard about use of slaves as soldiers in Confederate Army. Miles goes back on his earlier idea of arming the slaves because he believes that will make them more likely to … Continue reading →

Item Description: A letter from a slave at Fort Fisher sending thanks to his master for money and instructions for the care of his family. Despite difficulty spelling due to lack of education, he writes well and enough to communicate that … Continue reading →

Item Description: Letter dated 3 November 1864 from William Porcher Miles to Robert E. Lee. He discusses the use of slaves as soldiers in the Confederate Army. Item Citation: Folder 52, William Porcher Miles Papers, #508, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson … Continue reading →

Item Description: An invitation to George W. Burwell to attend an a trial investigating the conduct of negroes during a Union raid. He was a business man and physician in Virginia. Item Citation: From Folder 7, in the George W. Burwell Papers #4291, … Continue reading →

Item Description: Letter dated 21 March 1864 from Maggie Espey to her brother, Joseph Espey. In it, Maggie discusses Joseph’s victory in a local election, potentially getting him excused from his military duty as a result, the weather, her parents’ activities, … Continue reading →

Item description: Illustration, published in Harper’s Weekly on 23 January 1864, entitled “Colored troops, under General Wild, liberating slaves in North Carolina.” The illustration depicts the liberation of slaves in Camden County, North Carolina. Item citation: From the North Carolina … Continue reading →

Item description: In this letter dated 15 January 1864, Walter Waightstill Lenoir (1823-1890) wrote from Crab Orchard in Watauga County, N.C., to his mother, Selina Louisa Avery Lenoir (1783-1864) in Fort Defiance, Caldwell County, N.C., about the weather and its … Continue reading →